JRPGs with interesting systems

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Dragon Ball Z II: Gekishin Freeza vel Evil Freeza

There's plenty of Dragon Ball rpgs on Famicom and that one is easily the best. Unlike most of jrpgs traveling through world map is turn based, not real time. Player have a few cards which are used to move on map but they are being used in battle as well - there are parameters connected with attack, defense, some gain you ability to use magic skill (Kamehameha) etc. but main feature is experience system. Exp point serves their traditional purpose (allows you to level up and rise hp/mp) but they're also battlepower itself (battlepower is the only stat that can be raised) - in effect your party become stonger with every single trashmob killed! It eases the pain of grinding, especially when battle animations are so fucking beautiful!

 

[deuxhero]

MS saga made all equipment have to fit on a grid and made variety of equipment important because of enemy resistances to some types (some are strong against melee, others beams ect) and the game's energy system (Each attack requires a certain amount of energy and you gain a certain ammount each turn. You can use attacks equal to your energy gain freely, use attacks less than your energy gain to charge up for a big attack every so often, or pass turns to use big attacks regularly). You could have powerful (for the time) weapons that took up your entire equipment space and weakish weapons that were still useful because they took up so little space and energy.


edit: There are also some suits that have built in weapons and special attacks (which are character exclusive) that use all your equipped weapons, so it's got more depth.

 

[boot]

Last Remnant

I've seen it discussed before, but it's not in the thread.

You control squads rather than units, and available squad commands are decided by their composition. There is a crude flanking system, and a large part of combat is ensuring you do not get unnecessarily flanked while taking advantage of any openings- which is difficult as you are nearly always outnumbered. This game has some very challenging battles- at least on console versions- which imposed a strict leader limit greatly reducing the effectiveness of player controlled squads. Once you grasp the strange level-up/class system and gain a feel for the combat, it's a great game. The battles toward the end were genuinely tense, difficult, and rewarding.

Operation Darkness

You play a squad of supernatural Allied soldiers during WW2 who regularly face off against Nazi vampires, Panzers, assorted undead, dragons... wild stuff. Using weaponry of that era you designate fields of fire, set up ambushes and coordinate attacks. It's a lot of fun. Killing Hitler with Frankenstein's super punches and Werewolf flank attacks/ sniper fire is very memorable. Permadeath is active at all times, and your units are very fragile. If you play without a certain skill called Auto-Restore, you're looking at a very challenging game.

Towards the end the game falls apart a bit because of the way weight is handled. It's pretty much identical to Tactics Ogre- the less stuff you carry, the more often you get to move. Unfortunately, this means that after a certain point it's flat out better- and due to the difficulty almost required- to drop the cool, fun to use WW2 weaponry and rely completely on special abilities.

It's an XBOX360 exclusive

Rondo of Swords

Strategy-Rpg, most interesting thing about it is that units attack by running through the enemy. You kind of have to see it in action to get all the implications, but a lot of the strategies used in a typical grid-and-turnbased game cannot be used here, or must be completely reworked.

There is also a neat quest system. Units you weren't using in combat could be sent on quests to improve their weapons or promote to their advanced class. They could also go on more mundane quests to gather items and run errands. The only way to purchase new equipment was by sending a unit to the shop, and their ability to trade determined how successful these shopping runs would go.

All of the above games haveu bad storyu

Jrpgs with interesting gameplay systems are really a dime-a-dozen. They really are not afraid to mix things up. It seems like one of the requirements for a jrpg to get developed is that it has a quirky new battle system.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Last Remnant also has level scaling which is what made me drop the game.